


Matryoshka

by SoDoRoses (FairyChess)



Series: LAOFT Extras [91]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Eldritch Spookiness but very lowkey, Fluff, Gen, Implied/Referenced Ableism, M/M, Nightmares, childhood nightmares, tfw ur grandma is a massive unknowable horror and ur a preschooler whos also 2 months old
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:40:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22303534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairyChess/pseuds/SoDoRoses
Summary: You know that baby cousin you have who’s afraid of your grandma?Same concept.Just, yknow. With a family of low-to-highkey eldritch abominations.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Linda Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Original Female Character, Anxiety | Virgil/Creativity | Roman/Logic | Logan/Morality | Patton
Series: LAOFT Extras [91]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1365505
Comments: 27
Kudos: 475





	Matryoshka

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt:
> 
> "prompts are back and i have IMMEDIATELY forgotten almost all of the prompts i thought of while they were closed, but here’s one kinda from the ask i sent you earlier today — does linda ever get nightmares? how do the dads handle them? i have a mental image of her fear coming down virgil’s charm and him waking up and immediately shadow-traveling to her room bc of Dad Instincts, maybe accidentally bringing whoever’s cuddling him along for the ride (hopefully not logan since it makes him sick lmao)" (from [@airiervessel](airiervessel.tumblr.com) over on tumblr) 
> 
> thank you to [@trivia-goddess](trivia-goddess.tumblr.com) for beta-reading, youre so good at stuff it never would have even occurred to me to proofread for and as a person who has finished every essay i’ve ever handed in approximately an hour before the due date it is DEEPLY impressive

Virgil wondered, sometimes, how much he actually understood his Mother.

As a child he never had – she just _was_ , in the way trees cast shadows and the sky went dark at night. Virgil had never thought to muddle about her nature, why she did things, what she _really_ was.

And then, Linda.

Linda remembered something Virgil didn’t. _His_ very first memory was his eyes opening, already a whole being. Linda’s were patchy, her consciousness gradually coming together, which was a lot for a preschooler to deal with.

Virgil couldn’t for the life of him figure out why Mother had done it that way. It seemed so… _unnecessary_ , bordering on cruel.

And then he would try to ask, and he couldn’t even seem to get her to understand the question. She may not even have done it on purpose, but it still made Virgil twitch.

But regardless of the why, it all came down to the same thing – Virgil had an Unseelie daughter who was afraid of the dark.

It would almost be funny, if it didn’t tie Virgil’s stomach in miserable knots.

Virgil slept lightly, these days - probably would for decades. But even if he’d been dead to the world, the bright orange flare of _terror_ that echoed through the web of magic that connected him to every charm his loved ones carried would have woken him.

He bolted upright, rolling out of the bed and accidentally yanking the sheet with him – he heard a startled cry, Roman’s, but it didn’t register until he was already slipping into the shadow, and Virgil didn’t have time to let go of him.

It was a good thing he came up on Linda’s bed, because Roman surely would have collapsed if they hadn’t – as it was, he landed flat on his back, staring at the ceiling.

“Sorry,” gasped Virgil.

Roman glanced around, groggy and confused and looking slightly nauseous, but Virgil just slid up the bed and reached out for Linda.

She was wide awake, her eyes looking slightly more yellow and feline in the darkness than Patton’s gold. She sniffed, glancing between Virgil and the spot he’d come up in.

“Hey, _liebling,_ ” he said softly, “Are you okay?”

Roman seemed to have recovered, sitting up and turning to face them. Rapid footsteps came down the hall, and a disheveled Logan and Patton came into the room.

“Sorry,” Virgil repeated, sheepish.

Linda leaned over and made grabby hands for Patton, and Virgil tried not to feel the sting of it too keenly.

They all crammed onto Linda’s bed, her sitting in the middle in Patton’s lap with a sniffling, screwed up face. Her limbs were tangled in petulant knots, scowling darkly.

“Did something scare you, kitty-girl?” said Virgil.

“… Yes,” she said, pouting.

“What was it, sweetheart?”

Linda’s head swiveled, reaching out and taking Logan’s fingers in her small hands.

“Can you make sunshine, Papa?” she said quietly.

Logan made a soft, heartbroken noise.

“Of course,”

It wasn’t quite as bright as it would be if Logan was just happy, but his hair and fingers did start to give off little shafts of light. Linda leaned into them like she was basking.

“… I had a bad dream,” she said quietly.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” mumbled Roman, who still looked a little disoriented.

Linda didn’t answer.

“You like me, right?” she said in a small voice.

“ _Like_ you?” said Roman, “ _Like you?_ Kitty-girl, we _love_ you, more than anything,”

“Of course honey, we love you so much!” said Patton.

“You are indescribably precious,” said Logan firmly.

“You’re _perfect,_ ” said Virgil, “Exactly as you are. I’ll remind you as often as you need me to,”

“Even… even if I’m bad?”

“Linny,” said Logan firmly, “Is this about what happened in Walmart?”

Linda looked away, guilty, and Virgil gritted his teeth.

“I told you then,” continued Logan, “You are allowed to stim, as much as you want and need, as long as you aren’t hurting yourself. The woman who reprimanded you was in the wrong,”

“I know,” said Linda, picking at the hem of her nightgown.

Logan frowned.

“Then why-”

“But-!” she cut in, “But what if- what if I _was_ bad, like, um. Actually bad. What then?”

Logan cast the rest of them a helpless look, and Roman stepped in.

“We would tell you what you did was wrong,” said Roman, soothing, “And we would talk about why you couldn’t do it again,”

“But what if I did it _again,_ ” said Linda insistently.

“Hey, kitty-girl,” said Patton gently, brushing his hand through her curls, “Why don’t you tell me what your dream was? So we can figure out what’s _really_ wrong,”

Linda curled even smaller against his stomach.

“I got made in the witch-hazel,” she said quietly, “ **Grandmother** said- a lot of things. I’m Linda, and I’m, um, your daughter,”

“Yeah?” said Patton, “Why would a dream about the witch-hazel scare you, baby?”

Linda shook her head.

“But then we were, were in Walmart and the lady said I was a bad kid. So- so- Papa took me back to the witch-hazel and I knew it was a dream because the witch-hazel isn’t in the Walmart but I couldn’t wake up, and he put me inside and **Grandmother** started taking me apart again to make a better Linda and I-”

“Oh, gosh, _honey,_ ” said Patton, wrapping his arms around her and giving her a firm squeeze, “That does sound like a very bad dream, baby, I’m so sorry you went through that,”

“Your distress is understandable,” said Logan, “But the fear is unfounded. We would never even think of doing such a thing, and I suspect it isn’t possible anyway,”

“But-”

“No buts, Princess,” said Roman, “No qualifiers. We want you forever and ever,”

Linda still looked hesitant.

“What is it, _liebling?_ ” asked Virgil.

Linda’s eyes darted around the room, lingering in the darker shadows.

“What if- what if **Grandmother** , um- decides I’m bad? Will she- will she make a new Linda?”

“No, she won’t,” said Virgil, “I wouldn’t let her even if she tried, and she won’t try anyway.”

Linda didn’t look convinced.

“C’mere,” said Virgil quietly.

Crawling across the bed, Linda settled in Virgil’s lap and looked up at him.

Virgil leaned over the side of the bed slightly.

“Mother,” he called.

Linda shrank back against him immediately, and Virgil wrapped one arm around her to pull her close. The shadow of the bed across the hardwood rippled and pulled away from the floorboards, feathering up the side and just over the edge. Virgil tangled his fingers in the strands.

“Mother, what do you think of Linda?” he asked, speaking aloud for the benefit of the others.

Confusion, mostly, at first. _Child_ , he caught - then a flash of a young Virgil wreathed in his mother’s shadows, and then Virgil and Linda now, distorted through Mother’s eyes.

 _Small one,_ she seemed to conclude, _Afraid. Why?_

Virgil didn’t speak this aloud, just for the sake of time. He pulled the tangled knot of Linda’s fear in the charm sewn into her blanket, gathering it up and showing it to his mother.

 _Child is like you,_ she said, which was just about as straightforward as she ever got and yet still didn’t make much sense.

 _She’s afraid you don’t like her,_ Virgil pressed, _Of being inadequate._

There was a fission of irritation across the bond between them.

 _Child is like you,_ Mother repeated, vehement.

Virgil knew Mother was fond of him and Linda, and even his husbands, in her own way. He’d been trying to get some kind of affirmation-of-affection out of her that he could relay to Linda – but the conversation only seemed to be annoying her, and Virgil was getting a little wary.

Linda turned and clung to Virgil’s chest so tightly it was like she was trying to burrow in there.

“She doesn’t like me,” said Linda wetly.

“That’s not true,” said Virgil immediately, “Grandmother is hard to talk to, sometimes. It’s taking me a little while to understand,”

 _Mother_ _,_ _please,_ insisted Virgil, _I don’t understand. How is Linda like me?_

She nearly bristled, clearly irritated. Another flash – him, younger again, in a hammock strung through the treetops.

Except Linda was there, too, snug against his stomach. Virgil’s body was curled around her, and both of them were covered in the glittering, jewel-bright spots Virgil recognized as his sisters. The image wavered, and then Mother surrounded all of them, like she was making a nest of the dark for them to rest on, covering them like a blanket.

_Whole. Complete. Of us, like you._

Virgil could not actually remember a time that his Mother had made him cry – but there was suddenly a lump in his throat. He coughed a little, composing himself.

“Grandmother says,” he told Linda, “That we’re a family. She likes you just the way you are, because she already made you perfect,”

Linda nibbled on the claw of one thumb, considering.

Hesitantly, she reached out and placed one hand on Virgil’s, still tangled in the shadow. Mother poked her gently, and then spilled between Linda’s fingers as well. Virgil couldn’t be sure, but he thought she might be trying to hold Linda’s hand.

“This is too pure,” whispered Patton.

“Undeniably adorable,” Logan agreed, and the sunbeams had brightened, clearly coming naturally now.

“She’s cold,” giggled Linda, “Like lemonade!”

Virgil smiled.

“I think she feels like fluffy snow,” he said conspiratorially.

Linda wiggled.

“I’m so excited to see snow! It looks so cool on the TV!”

“Well, you’ve got one thing right,” said Patton, elbowing Logan, “It is _very_ cool,”

Logan gave him an exasperated smile, Roman groaned, and Virgil bit his lip to keep from laughing while Linda let go of Mother to clap enthusiastically.

“‘Cuz it’s cold, right? It’s little ice?”

“Ex-actly!” said Patton brightly, booping her nose, “Good memory!”

Linda squirmed happily at the compliment.

“So, Princess,” said Roman after a poorly-concealed yawn, “Do you think you feel better enough to go back to sleep?”

Linda’s face screwed up in concentration.

“Don’t hurt yourself,” teased Roman.

Linda stuck her tongue out at him.

“Um, will it, will it keep you awake if I sleep in your room and, um, Papa makes sunshine?”

Patton grimaced.

“Papa might not be able to-”

“I can manage,” murmured Logan, “At least until she falls asleep,”

Linda looked up hopefully.

“Y’sure?”

Smiling down at her, Logan plucked her out of Virgil’s lap and lifted her up to bunny kiss her nose.

“I am very sure, Linny,” he said fondly.

And in their bed, Logan softly glowing in Virgil’s arms as Linda curled up between him and Patton, Roman already half-asleep on the far side, Virgil thought there were far, far worse ways to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> you can also find me over on tumblr at [@tulispcomeinallsortsofcolors](tulipscomeinallsortofcolors.tumblr.com)!


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